Arriving at a door, Natsumi could overhear the voice of SuperNova seeping through; she had reached the door connecting to the front, and she would need to keep herself hidden. The door hadn’t been fully closed and was just open enough for a sliver of natural light from outside to spill in; it was likely left open by the thugs who had made their way to the back of the store to get the larger safe open. Taking a deep breath before acting, she would give the door a slow and gentle push, trying her best not to make the move subtle in case one of the criminals looked in her direction.

Her wings fluttering, she would make her way up to the very edge of the door, making sure she had just enough space to slip through at the door's counter, before gently landing on the door’s sill to take in both the general layout of the room and, more importantly, the number of hostages and thugs. The hostages had been grouped together with a thug on both the left and right sides, two thugs who stood at the front, keeping the authorities and SuperNova at bay, and another much larger thug who was aimlessly pushing money into a bag.

Her second objective was the wellbeing of the hostages. There were a few cuts and bruises on who she could only assume to be a security guard who was unfortunately overpowered, but nothing else she could with her quick glance. They were also admittedly scared, which was fully understandable. Natsumi would hold steadily, giving the room one final count before waiting for the booming of SuperNova’s rambles, choosing to relay her information between the sounds of his voice to hopefully mask the quiet and soft sound of her own.

“Four hostages. Between two criminals. Another two criminals are on either side of the window. And criminal in the back stuffing bags with money; he’s pretty big.”

With the police now behind cover and the trio looking down from overhead, there would be an almost tense air of silence. The criminals had already shown they were ready for the conflict to escalate to violence if necessary, as their rounds hadn’t struck any officers and their intentions were clear. Farrin would also answer with Natsumi; they were both prepared to act; this is what it means to be a hero. SuperNova would avert his gaze from the unfolding situation for only a moment to look back at his students as Farrin asked an important question: What was the plan? It was always said that the eyes could tell a lot about a person; in this case, Natsumi’s eyes mirrored her determination.

SuperNova would begin to lay out their plan of attack in this situation; with him acting as a diversion, the duo would slip in through the back, which sounded easy enough. Count the hostages, then relay the information to SuperNova and wait for his signal to begin the rescue. But of course, even the most sound plans left a small margin for error, which he has also accounted for, giving them the option to defend themselves against the assailants if necessary to keep the hostages or themselves safe from danger.

For this objective, both her ability to shift her size and speed would be an asset, something she was sure that both SuperNova and Farrin were well aware of. Nodding her head in agreement with the plan, the duo was ready to begin.

“Understood.”

She would respond as Farrin would wave her on the shoulder, and Natsumi would comply, following closely behind him as he jumped down to the neighboring street.

“Right behind you.”

In perfect timing, the boom of SuperNova’s voice would pull any attention away from the duo quickly and quietly, slipping into the alleyway behind the shop. Arriving at the back, the duo would be met with a large door, presumably well-locked from the other side. Above the door would be a small horizontal window with security bars; the window was just barely opened. With stealth being paramount, Natsumi would move to the front, flying her way up to the small window and shrinking herself down as much as she could, giving herself just enough space to slip through windows as well as get through the security bars.

While still on the windowsill, she would do her best to check the surroundings. Behind the door was a hallway with a few rooms branching off from it. She was certain that the hostage would be kept somewhere, at least fairly close to the criminals. Waiting a few moments to ensure she would be caught in the act, she would leap from the windowsill, hovering down from the back side of the door to unlock it, increasing her size just enough for her to comfortably grab and open the door without too much struggling as to not alert anyone.

“The rear door is open, and we’re inside.”

She would radio into SuperNova before turning her attention back to Farrin.

“The coast is clear.”

Natsumi would listen intently as Farrin would answer her question, and just as quickly as her dreams of candy dominance had arisen, they would be dashed just the same, or at least partially. Without the full twenty-four hours, she would have to operate in a shorter time frame than she initially expected; perhaps she would have to employ help. After a while, she would find herself getting flustered at the realization that she had put far too much thought into a hypothetical scenario. Shaking the thoughts free from her head, she would give Farrin another smile as one last thought would run through her mind: If a hero were to wear their own costume, would that technically count as trick or treating?

Farrin's second answer to entering the building would come just in time to stop the candy-centered thoughts from spiraling out of control yet again; he wanted to enter the temple. Natsumi would give him a gentle nod and hum as they made their way inside the temple. As they walked the grounds, they would be met by hospitality that had almost become synonymous with the Japanese people, the smiles of people both young and old grating them both. Natsumi would respond and return both waves and small polite bows to anyone who was gracious enough to offer them some and even the few people who hadn't; it was always important to treat everyone with respect.

As they would continue to move around the grounds, they would eventually reach the main center of the temple, which had amassed quite the crowd inside, undeniably all offering their prayers. Natsumi's warm smile grew simply at the sight of it, and as Farrin would stop just at the border, she would stop as well, assuming that attempting to enter the main temple might be too much for him to experience all in one day; perhaps that would simply return later, when it was much quieter and less populated, so he could have his chance to explore unhindered. She herself would pause and, in the moment of silence, bow her head, giving thanks for the adventures she had thus far and the many more to come. She was truly happy that she was able to come out and enjoy this day, even more so as she would have someone who would bring her through and get to experience the words of Golden Week for the first time.

"It really is."

She would respond after a short pause.

"But we've got to get going; there is so much more to see."

Natsumi would grin as she would eagerly head towards the exit, more excited to show Farrin the wonders of her homeland.

Their last performance was exemplary, so much so that they were offered the chance to be part of a patrol. But of course, they were still students and weren’t allowed to do this; they accompanied a well-distinguished hero and professor for the UAU academy, SuperNova. This would be Natsumi’s first official outing in the streets of Japan as a hero, and having him show them the ropes would give her a bit of comfort, which she would try to focus on more than the idea of how childish some might perceive her costume to be; perhaps it was the theme for a change? An interesting thought, but one she would have to revisit at a later date, for now she needed to focus on the task at hand.

For their first patrol, they would be given the streets of Tokyo. Relatively speaking, they were given the safest of areas to start, which would be the best way to ease the duo into the swing of things. They were also under orders not to engage with combatants if something was to arise, but even Natsumi herself had decided that that order was much more situational than their chaperone would have liked to admit. They were, however, given the freedom to escort civilians, a small but major necessity that allowed the hero to fully focus on the threat of need.

"Yeah! I didn’t expect him to be so hard to keep up with!"

She would shout out as she was beginning to notice an unexpected issue: keeping up with SuperNova. He was by no means a small man, and with his ample physique, he easily lounged from building to building. His strength was enough to keep them trailing behind, even with her flight and Farrin’s speed. The gap was becoming so large that even the hero would yell out to them. In response, she would nod and shrink her size, if only just a bit, to keep up as she shouted out.

"Yes, sir!"

"That’s right!"

Natsumi would respond happily to Farrin’s responding question. Although he was just beginning to learn the culture, customs, and traditions of Japan, his knowledge was better than that of more foreigners who frequently visited or even chose to move to the island.

"The Golden Week is made up of four holidays: Showa Day, which is the birthday of an old emperor; Constitution Memorial Day, which celebrates the day the Constitution was enacted; and Greenery Day, which is a special time for people to commune with nature and be thankful for all that it has provided. Then there is Children’s Day, which is a day to celebrate the happiness of children and their personalities."

She would give a bit of information about each day, but of course there was more she could have added. All but Shōwa Day had some kind of custom that they could take part in, from building tours to raising carp-shaped windsocks. This being her favorite vacation time of the year and Greenery Day being amongst one of her favorite holidays, she could go on forever with this to say about the holidays, but she found it best to not overload Farrin with a bunch of trivia all at once. She was certain he would be able to retain it all, but she didn’t want to pull his attention away from enjoying the moment, as this was something she was struggling to learn herself.

With her upbringing, she was almost always told to be vigilant—not that it was necessarily a bad thing with cameras and reporters at every corner, but after a while, it became impossible to completely turn off, regardless of her setting. Natsumi would chime in again.

"Today there’ll be quite a few people visiting shrines and museums to pay respect to Emperor Shōwa."

Tugging at her selected string, Natsumi would be met by the jumping of a bag of candy. The bag would be on the smaller side, containing a few of both hard and soft candies, undeniably grouped together by the owner of the booth. It would be enough to give her a bit of excitement, as she would grin a bit, looking over to Farrin as he pulled his first string. Much like her own, his first pull would also be tied to a bundle of candy bars. In her eyes, his prize was well selected, but it wasn’t as well received by him, as he would let a small profanity slip out as he fished around in his pockets yet again for yen to cover another go at the game.

Natsumi’s slight grin would eventually turn into a worried smile as she realized he had clearly had the perfect prize or prizes already selected in his mind and wouldn’t leave until they were his. The game attendant would hand the bag of candy over to her as he took the fee from Farrin and waited in anticipation for his next turn. She kept her eyes on Farrin as she would untie the bag, taking out a small hard candy before unwrapping it and putting it into her mouth, watching blankly as he would continue to pull at strings.

It would seem that the first few pulls would only serve to grow his mountain of candy, something that she was certain was becoming frustrating to Farrin. As he continued to pull strings, Natsumi would continue to eat candy until she had finally found her way to the bottom of her small but enjoyable bag. She would find herself tempted to pull for another string as well to get another bag of candy, but with the thought of karaage, she would have to control her hunger for what she hoped was only going to be a bit longer.

As time passed, the number of strings would begin to dwindle as he continued, with enough candy to easily give anyone a tummy ache and potentially make a dentist salivate at the payments for cleanings and cavities. But he would eventually pull a string for a stuffed animal, a dragon, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement radiate from him, even if he didn’t show it. She couldn’t help but cheer at the victory, jumping up and down a few times.

"Yay, you did it."

Her celebration would be cut short as he would continue to pay and pull strings. It was enough to raise a bit of intrigue as she would look for what was left to win; perhaps his plan was to win all of the sweets, she thought, completely overlooking the other stuffed toy. She would watch in anticipation yet again as he continued until he finally pulled the string attached to the stuff fairy toy. Once he was given his prizes, he would stow one away in a bag before handing the fairy toy to Natsumi. Her eyes would light up, and her cheeks would turn a light but warm red.

"For me?"

She would ask as she took the toy in her hands, taking a moment to listen to his reasoning before hugging it tightly and smiling, making an audible humming sound in agreement.

"Thank you, Farrin! Yeah, Karaage time!"